This presentation was provided by Emily Ayubi of the American Psychological Association during a NISO webinar entitled Understanding the Marketplace: Creating the New Information Product, held on Wednesday, March 15, 2017

1. From Print Book to
Writing Platform
American Psychological Association ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Developing an Innovative Educational Solution for the 21st Century Student
NISO Webinar on Creating the New Information Product
Emily L. Ayubi
March 15, 2017

2. From Print Book to Writing Platform
APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Market Demands

3. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Why did we transform the print product?
• The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association
®
is written for researchers submitting
manuscripts for professional publication.
• Buyers of the print Publication Manual have been requesting an electronic version of the book for many years.
• New technologies are profoundly transforming research, instruction, and learning on university and college
campuses (e.g., use of learning management systems).
• A growing trend of reduced spending on course materials by students.
• Need for a comprehensive, authoritative educational product to help prepare students to conduct sound
research, write scholarly papers in APA Style, and prepare them for their careers.
• Most common questions and challenges: in-text citations and references, bias-free language, plagiarism,
copyright, paper formatting, basic research and writing skills, and grammar.
Market Demands

4. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
How do we reach our users?
• For many years, APA Style Experts assisted with style queries over the phone.
• Style Expert email (200–300/mo; answered 20,000 emails to date).
• Launched the APA Style blog with the release of the 6th edition of the Publication Manual in 2009. Since then,
we’ve had more than 1.5 million visitors.
• Feedback form on apastyle.org
• APA Style Facebook and Twitter accounts in 2010, followed by Google+ in 2012.
• Added APA Style CENTRAL Twitter account in 2016.
• Conducted surveys, focus groups, interviews, presentations, workflow studies, and alpha/beta testing.
• Consulted with Library Advisory Council.
Market Demands

5. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Market Demands
I am looking for APA Style
templates to facilitate
document creation. I need
papers that will be formatted
correctly, allowing the author
to concentrate solely on
content.
I'm a librarian and
would like to know
if you have an
instructional program
for learning APA Style.
Are there any plans for an
online version of the
Publication Manual? An
institutional license would be
fantastic. Please consider
creating an ebook or web-
based version of the manual.

6. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
What is APA Style CENTRAL®
?
• Web-based application that facilitates learning and empowers users to become better researchers, writers, and
scholars.
• Designed for undergraduate and graduate students and their instructors and librarians.
• 24/7 educational mentor with an emphasis on learning reinforcement and retention.
• Facilitates collaborative writing and research.
• Encourages students to develop critical thinking and scholarly writing skills and take ownership of their work.
• Provides an authoritative suite of expert instructional resources.
• Integrates with learning management systems.
• Everything a student needs all in one easy-to-navigate and easy-to-use online space.
Market Demands

9. From Print Book to Writing Platform
APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Market Strategy

10. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
What is our initial market strategy?
• Introduced APA Style CENTRAL® as an institutional solution.
• Pricing model: annual subscription, tiered based on FTE.
• Customers are familiar with our FTE-based tiered pricing subscription model.
• Internal APA systems are aligned with the institutional subscription model.
• Existing relationships with database customers.
Market Strategy

11. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Who is purchasing it?
• Librarians
• Library consortia
• Academic administrators (e.g., deans, provosts)
Market Strategy

12. From Print Book to Writing Platform
APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Market Adoption

13. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
What types of institutions are licensing it?
Market Adoption
• Members of consortia
• Research institutions
• Liberal arts colleges
• Online institutions
• Specialized institutions
• International institutions

14. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Who is using it?
• Anyone teaching and/or writing in APA Style®
across the social and behavioral sciences, nursing,
education, business, and beyond.
• Undergraduate students
• Graduate students
• Faculty members (research and writing)
• Writing center staff
• Instructors in freshman composition programs
• Librarians engaged in student instruction about writing and writing styles
• Researchers
Market Adoption

15. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Product Usage

16. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
What are our customers saying?
Market Adoption
“Students were struggling, and then came APA Style CENTRAL.”
“Faculty and students love it!”
“We don’t want students to start a paper anywhere else.”
“It really worked well instructionally.”
“This goes way beyond a citation style manual.”
“I wish I had this when I was in school.”
“I got an A on my paper!”

17. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Market Reception: Social Media

18. From Print Book to Writing Platform
APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
Next Steps

19. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
What happens next?
• More market research and outreach.
• Product data collection to refine and expand content, tools, and functionality.
• Continue community development with librarians, faculty, and students.
Continuous Improvement

20. APA Style CENTRAL® ǀ www.apastyle.org/asc
We follow academic libraries, writing centers, and publishers. If we are not following you, let us know!
Product information: www.apastyle.org/asc
APA Style feedback form: http://forms.apa.org/apastyle/
Need APA Style help?: StyleExpert@apa.org
Google.com/+APAStyle
blog.apastyle.org
Facebook.com/APAStyle
Twitter.com/APA_Style and Twitter.com/APAStyleCENTRAL